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Operating an online business gives you the freedom to explore a new business opportunity without the expenses involved in a brick-and-mortar business. If you’re just beginning an online business, it makes sense to keep your full-time job until you can gauge the success of your new venture. Juggling full-time and part-time jobs can be challenging, but can be done if you follow a few basic guidelines.

Manage Your Time Efficiently

Developing a routine for handling your online business can help you maximize your time and avoid burnout. Decide if your time is better spent working on your online business before you begin your full-time job or after you spend a full day at work. Scheduling your online hours before you begin your normal work day might be a good idea if you are usually tired at the end of the day. Weekends provide ample opportunity to get caught up with the details of your business, but working too many hours on the weekends can exhaust you and affect your personal relationships.

Don't Neglect Your Full-Time Job

In all the excitement of starting your own business, it can be easy to neglect your full-time job. Because this is the job that is providing the bulk of your income, it must be your priority during working hours. Be very careful about working on your online business while you are at your full-time job. Your employer might not approve and you don’t want to do anything that will jeopardize your job. The Indiana Small Business Development Center recommends never using the photocopy machine or other company resources for your online business and suggests not giving your work email or phone numbers to customers.

Use Your Lunch Hour

Your customers might not know that your online business is only a part-time job and will expect you to be available during the day. Answering emails, processing orders or working on projects that can’t wait can be done on your lunch hour. Leave your office, find a restaurant or coffee bar with a free wireless Internet connection and set up your laptop. Although your time will be limited, you will be able to stay on top of urgent business during your lunch hour.

Take Advantage of Technology

Use everything the Internet has to offer to make it less challenging to run your part-time business. Forward emails from your website to your phone during the day and check the email during lunch or when you have a break. Set up Internet alerts to let you know when your business is mentioned negatively or positively on another website or to keep up with your competitors’ actions. Setting up a page on a social media website is a cheap way to promote and advertise your online company, but isn’t without drawbacks. Promoting your business with social media might raise red flags with your employer, advises Career Builder.com, especially if your online business is similar to the work you do in your full-time job.

Ask for Help

If the demands of your online business become too taxing, it can be tempting to take a break for a day, which can quickly turn into a week. Asking friends and families to help when you become overwhelmed can help you avoid problems in the short term, but you might need to consider hiring an employee if your business is booming and you are starting to feel overwhelmed. Bringing another person into the business can also be helpful should you become sick or want to take some time off.